ROANOKE (WSLS) – Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, many people are looking ahead to Christmas and that means looking for the right Christmas tree.

Before you can carry off the perfect Christmas tree, before you can even cut it down, you have to know what to look for.

John Hamill’s family has been in the Christmas tree business for over 40 years and owns Hamill Christmas Tree Farm, which kicked off its 2016 season on Friday. Hamill says part of the fun for some families is cutting down their own tree.

“It’s more fun for the family and it’s less work for us. So everybody’s better off,” said Hamill.

Hamill says all trees will lose some of their needles during the time they spend as a Christmas tree, but Frasier and Canaan furs tend to lose the least. They have become the most popular over the past 10 years or so.

The Nash family tried an artificial tree just once before going all natural.

“We can pick it out and it’s always different,” said Lily Nash.

Hamill says he loves to put smiles on the faces of people like the nationals.

“Oh it’s wonderful. Throughout the year there’s things to do in the trees, but the most fun is selling trees because you get to see happy people. You get to see the results of your work.”